


Lightning War

by AgentUndertow619



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Comrades in Arms, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Loss, Original Character(s), Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Self-Insert, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:29:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29593512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentUndertow619/pseuds/AgentUndertow619
Summary: Salem's horde was almost too much for Atlas. James was getting desperate, students from Atlas Academy were being thrown into the fray, Atlas civilians were in complete panic and hundreds more people were sitting vulnerable in the crater under the floating city. Everything was looking almost hopeless for everyone, until contingency was sprung. Nobody knew where these steel chariots of hope and fire came from, except for the blue haired pilot of a lone airship, who personally knew the man behind the madness.(Takes place through Chapters 8 and 9)
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Lightning War

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Lightning war is the English translation of Blitzkrieg

The Grimm were everywhere. The entire army, every infantryman, every Paladin, every Manta, every Capital ship, they were all fighting bravely, tooth and nail just to hold the horde back. Burrow guns and beam turrets launched from the Capital ships took out small scores of the black masses, but poor judgment of placement left a sizable number of guns without cover, allowing many of the immobile artillery pieces to get easily overwhelmed and destroyed by the Grimm. Through all this, hundreds of people bore witness to the carnage over scroll feeds, from right under the battle in Mantle and for the pilot of a lone airship, from inside the storm cloud.

May’s heart felt heavy as a cinderblock. Everywhere she looked outside the cockpit of her airship, she felt her hope drain away further. Manta’s falling to the ground in fiery wrecks, Capital ships torn apart by Tempests and men, women and equipment alike on the ground, overwhelmed, trampled, ripped to shreds. The fear grew more within her. The fear that she wouldn’t make it back to the crater in time, fear that she’d lose her friends whom she called family after she was outcast from the Marigolds. Fear that no matter what she did, she would lose everything left in her life. For the first time in ages, since she became part of the Happy Huntresses, since Robyn first found her and took her in, since she was disowned from her family, she began to cry.

*****

If Ironwood could be honest right now, he was completely freaking out. He continued to pace back and forth in his office, hands clasped tightly behind his back as he listened to the mess of comm chatter from the battle in the farmland. He was angry, he was furious, he was confused, but mostly, he was scared. He wanted to scream, to hit something, to shoot something… He stopped, both his pacing and his thinking. His mind went back to Sleet. The man he executed in cold blood. In front of his subordinates… His colleagues...? James didn’t know what to think anymore. He felt like everyone was against him. Qrow, the council, Hill… Oz… 

His anger and confusion spiked again. Oz… What was Oz thinking? What was James thinking? He knew Oz would always come back. He always did. But Oscar… Did he have to shoot Oscar?

Ironwood was interrupted from his thoughts when the ping of his ear comm sounded in his ear. “Sir? Central Command here,” sounded the lieutenant. Not the science team. James took a shaky breath to steady himself so he didn’t snap. “What is it?” he answered flatly. “I think there’s something you’ve gotta see.”

“Can’t you just tell me?” He asked with frustration creeping back into his voice. “Sir, believe me when I say you need to see the camera feed yourself.” The general didn’t have time for things like this, but if the lieutenant said he had too... “Fine. Patch the feed to my office,” finally agreeing to the request. The lieutenant replied “Yes Sir,” as the line was cut. 

Ironwood walked around behind his desk to open up the terminal. “What could be so important as too…” he trailed off as he finally saw what the lieutenant was talking about...

*****

It was too much for her. The entire world was crumbling around her. She dropped her head and rubbed at her face for a moment as she began to tremble and hic from her stress. Once she looked up, she got the scare of her life. Something was in her flightpath!

May pulled up on the airship, HARD! She didn’t know how close she was to hitting it and she didn’t care; her mind was in total panic! Her rapid breathing finally began to slow down from that scare after what felt like hours and even with the gravity dust regulators in the cockpit, she swore she felt the G-force from that. 

May leveled out the airship and began to glance around to find what she almost hit. She turned the airship to the right a few degrees before she saw the… Bullhead? A Skycrane variant in fact, lacking a passenger compartment on most Bullheads and boasting a reinforced airframe twice the normal length of other Bullheads, equipped with four main engines instead of two and a pair of hydraulic cargo arms on either side of the frame between the engines that doubled as landing gear. It came as a slight surprise to May, until she noticed the dark green paint scheme with black highlights. She knew just who they were. Moving the airship’s controls harder, she turned towards the farmland. She needed to know if it was happening, if they were there.

As she cleared the clouds, she saw the one thing she never thought she’d ever see. A large group of foot mobiles charging the black tide of Grimm from the north flank, with several standard Bullheads dropping more men and women clad in green and black body armour behind their mighty spearhead. The moment she saw them, the several hundred tons of combined steel, she felt hope rise in her heart and her feeling of perseverance increase with every eruption of fire and smoke from the barrels of the steel beasts that brought down yet another goliath, another beringel, another creep. Her fear and worry still existed, but she felt something push it away for something greater, courage and determination.

There’s a chance. He gave them all a chance. In the back of May’s mind, she was hoping he was somehow seeing this. As she turned away from the battle towards the crater, she muttered four words. The four simple words that stood as the backbone to the strategy of her friend. The man who pulled it all together and who was willing to fight and die for them all.

“Tanks lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I posted another piece ages back, but this is the first fic I'm seriously focusing hard on and making good with trying to continue.
> 
> I'd really appreciate comments and offers to help with new original characters as this goes on.
> 
> P.S. If you guys don't remember, the Burrow Guns and Beam Cannons are from the Amity Arena game.  
> (Still sucks that its gone)


End file.
